Though for years I have known about Mike "Magnequest" rediscovery of parallel-feed
output transformers (his OPTs are the rage in Japan) which are the central
modality of Doc Bottlehead's business, I have not experienced its unique
aural matrix until now sort of.

A long while ago I requested some amps from Doc Bottlehead with no response,
and Mike seemed to be too busy to send me any of these unique output transformers
with their matching plate chokes.

Six months ago Jim Dowdy Lama started to rave about his own custom made
parallel feed amplifiers so I started to dialogue again with Mike, and asked
him to create some custom OPTs for the KR PX-25 and I am still waiting
and hope to have them in July/August.

My goal was to create an edge-shredding parallel-feed amp a completely
non-commercial meta-gizmo of gigantic coolosity.

In the meantime I discovered that Art Dudley, Chief Cheese of Listener,
had built a pair of the Doc Bottlehead amps and was willing to send them
to me while I waited.

THIS IS SCARY

I am not going to bother telling you how scary this product is because
you wont believe the cost of the kit for making two of these 2A3 amps. Check
the Doc Bottlehead site yourself.

The performance you will get out of building these amps which are
without doubt is the best value in tubedom is mind blowing relative
to the price.

Something completely unique is happening with this ancient output transformer
concept in a modern format which is why I will investigate it more
seriously.

Trust me there are some very sophisticated ideas implemented here,
like active plate loading for the volt amp/driver stage.

Is this amp the most refined 2A3 amp I have ever heard? Not by a long shot,
but they cost less than most pairs of silver interconnects if you know
what I mean. Do these amps have their own unique personality? What amplifier
doesn't?

Can I think of a better "first" kit? NO!

PARALLEL FEED OUTPUT TRANSFORMER TWINS

In my upcoming idea I will tell the full story about Mike's magnificent
obsessions.

He has reviewed an "magnetic coupling concept" that was developed when
the Model A was considered a "hot" car. It is a simple idea of separating
the "DC/loading" from the "AC transforming" into two separate magnetic device,
rather than combining them in one SET OPT, (which is now normal) so that
the OPT doesn't need an air gap..which creates a series of performance compromises
in all SET OPTs. When you buy Mike's parallel-feed OPTs you get twins: a
relatively tiny OPT transformer which handles just the AC, and a matching
air-gapped plate choke for loading the output tube. You also need a fairly
large capacitor (4 mfd) for blocking the DC from the AC transformer.

Does this modern implementation of a very ancient idea translate into a
unique aural matrix? Do bears hug in the woods?

THE BEST NEWS

Go to www.audioasylum.com and
click on the Doc Bottlehead bulletin board, (on the front page) and check
out the support you get for using this product. This is the righteous way
to deal with the public.

THE EXPLORATION BEGINS

Doc Bottlehead is performing an important service by creating such high
cost/performance ratio SET amps. YOU MUST INVESTIGATE THEM.

On the other hand there are some exotic ideas I have about Mike's miraculous
gizmos that I feel compelled to explore and much more will come soon.

What about a parallel-feed optimal aural matrix created with PX-25 on tweeter/midrange,
and parallel-feed 300B on woofers with no crossovers? Has anyone every
created this before? Dear Lord, Why was I chosen to go where no audiomaniac
has gone before?